The challenge area went silent for a long moment, and we all stared at each other.
“Well, I’ve got good news and bad news,” Brodie said, stepping forward and breaking the silence. He held up his lock in one bright red, goop-smeared hand. “The good news is that if your key matches my lock, you get me as a partner.”
How is that good news? I wanted to retort, but I bit it back. Honestly, Brodie was the last person I wanted to pair up with. Ugh.
“And the bad news?” someone called.
“The bad news is that I didn’t get a room, so we’ll be couches,” Brodie said with a grimace.
Bad news all around if you asked me.
That broke the weird tension, though, and people began to move around, greeting each other. I automatically headed for my friend with the great smile. He made a beeline for me, too, and raked a hand through his dark, gooey hair. “Sorry you didn’t win,” he said, holding his lock out to me. “My name’s Jendan.”
“I’m Kandis,” I told him with a smile. “And that’s cool. You can’t win them all. I’ll just have to win the next one. Now cross your fingers and hope this works,” I told him and tried my key in his lock.
It wouldn’t go in.
I gave Jendan a disappointed look. “No go.”
“Shoot. I was hoping it was you.”
He sure was cute. I gave him a flirty smile. “I was hoping it was you, too. Doesn’t mean we can’t work together anyhow.”
“I like the way you think,” he said with a chuckle. “We’ll talk later.”
I nodded and glanced around for someone else. The elderly man was standing nearby, so I held my key up gamely and approached him. “Do you have a partner yet?”
“Not yet,” he told me. “Name’s Casper.”
I introduced myself again and tried my key. No go. “I am just not having much luck today,” I joked, and I headed for someone else.
When the next key didn’t work, I began to get nervous. Oh no. Surely I wouldn’t be Brodie’s partner. Surely not. Surely I wasn’t that unlucky. Anyone that had watched The World Races would know that Brodie was a total first class jerk, and they’d be gunning to get him out of the house. Heck, I wanted him gone already myself.
I turned around and saw Brodie standing nearby. He waved his lock at me, that cocky smirk on his face. “Wanna give me a shot, beautiful?”
Ugh. He really was obvious. Might as well get it over with, though. I headed his way, a tight smile on my face. “Does that ever work?”
“Does what ever work?” he asked.
“That smarmy schtick of yours? Hitting on anything with a pair of tits and hoping you’ll get a response?” I held my key up, indicating that he should hand me his lock so I could try it.
“You tell me,” Brodie said, still grinning despite my acerbic words. “You interested?”
“Only in booting you,” I said sweetly, unable to hold my tongue when it came to him. It didn’t matter if I made an enemy of Brodie; he wouldn’t be around long enough for me to care if I needed his help or not.
To my horror, my key slid into his lock with a perfect little snick.
“Looky there,” Brodie said, a drawl evident in his words. “We’re a match made in heaven.” His arm went around my shoulders and he hugged me against him, ignoring my stiff body and shocked face. “Guess you can’t boot me unless you have a deathwish, huh, beautiful?” he whispered in my ear.
House Guests was officially off to a shitty start.
Not only was douchey Brodie from The World Races here, but he was my partner and we had no room this week.
The only way it could get worse would be if someone came up and slapped me in the face.
Considering Brodie Short was my partner, I wasn’t ruling it out as a possibility.
~~ * ~~
The bathrooms, I was happy to see, had been converted into something slightly more modern. The bathroom tiles were a blood red, and the walls were a deep, ugly purple. The fixtures on the sinks were black, and there were two booths nearby for toilets and two booths for showers. The toilet booths had solid doors to allow for some privacy, but I noticed that both showers had doors that only covered the occupant from mid-calf to shoulder.
I guessed they’d be filming in the bathroom after all. Fun.
I hadn’t been the first back to the bathrooms, so I was forced to sit and wait for a shower to open up. I grabbed one of the dark towels and joined the others sitting atop one of the counters, waiting as Mickey and Casper showered, washing the red gunk off. Katy and Liam had disappeared as soon as the challenge was over, no doubt to check out Liam’s private room. I was guessing he had a nice shower up there.
Which left me down here with Brodie.
I curled my sticky legs under me and rolled my eyes, thinking about my partner. I’d last seen him a few minutes ago, wiping splatters off of Sunnie’s face and flirting with her like she was his partner. Tool. I hated that I’d been paired up with him. Hated it. But there was nothing I could do except try to make the best of things and lay low.
Someone hopped up on the counter next to me. I looked over and smiled as Jendan sat next to me.
“Hey,” said Jendan. “Think they’ll use up all the hot water?”
I raised one of my sticky hands, eyeing it with distaste. “I don’t even care at this point. I think my fingers are glued together.”
He laughed and leaned in, his voice dropping. “So who’s your partner?”
“Brodie,” I whispered. “I’m screwed.”
His eyes widened, and then he gave me a sympathetic look. “Oh man. You are screwed.”
“I know,” I said unhappily. “He was the last person I’d have chosen.”
“You know the rest of the house is going to be gunning for him and Katy and Liam,” he whispered back. “They already won money on another show.”
Brodie didn’t win, I wanted to point out, but Brodie was, well, Brodie. No one wanted him around for long. So I nodded.
“Don’t worry,” Jendan said, nudging my shoulder. “I’ve got your back.”
“Thanks.” I nudged him back, and grimaced when my clothing stuck to his. “Man, we are really gross.”
“We are,” he agreed. “But I’m used to getting dirty in my line of work.”